Rangers boss Michael Beale has set the pre-Celtic injury nerves jangling by claiming he subbed midfielder Nicolas Raskin off against Aberdeen due to tightness in his ankle.
The Gers manager revealed after the 2-0 defeat at Pittodrie that the Belgian U21 international had been struggling with the problem heading into the Scottish Premiership clash in the northeast.
The comments will be ominous for Rangers fans who’ve seen their season derailed by a massive swell of injury problems with the club’s medical department firmly in the Ibrox crosshairs.
Whilst there was no suggestion that after the clash at Aberdeen Nicolas Raskin categorically won’t be available for the Scottish Cup semi-final v Celtic, Michael Beale certainly didn’t put Rangers fans’ minds at ease.
Michael Beale talks Nicolas Raskin ahead of Celtic clash
The comments come after Rangers manager Michael Beale subbed Nicolas Raskin for the wasteful Rabbi Matondo after 64 minutes against Aberdeen, with the team trailing 2-0 in the match.
“Listen, we might have one or two back, you know [for the Celtic match],” said Michael Beale.
“Today, Nico came to the game with a little bit of a problem with his ankle.
“So obviously, you see when we’re 2-0 down you’re half thinking ‘well, okay, we won’t push that any further’.
“We had nice passage to play today for periods of the game today I thought. We played well. But it’s about the penalty boxes and we didn’t execute there.
“Next week we have a completely different challenge against a very, very good team. It’s a semi-final, it’s a fifty-fifty game. When we go into that, we will push this aside and we go into that with positivity.”
Ahead of the defeat at Aberdeen, Michael Beale did provide some positive pre-Celtic news with an update surrounding Connor Goldson and Ryan Kent confirming their inclusion next week.
But whatever happens at Hampden Rangers will be without several high-earners with Filip Helander, Ridvan Yilmaz Steven Davis, Ryan Jack, Tom Lawrence and Kemar Roofe all set to miss the game.
